IMPRESSIONS – MARCH/APRIL 2012
Oral Health Literacy
By Dr. Bruce Terry
EDITOR’S NOTE:
As part of our celebration of PDA’s 150th
Anniversary in 2018, we have been
featuring reprints of Pennsylvania Dental
Journal editorials. This issue features the
March/April 2012 “throwback” editorial
from Dr. Bruce Terry.
I feel like I am yelling at the top of my lungs and no one
can hear me. At the same time others are saying exactly the
opposite of me. Which one of us is right?
Recently the StarPhoenix newspaper of Saskatoon, Canada
reported an ever increasing number of children with severe
dental caries were in need of sedation dentistry. Reporter
Janet French interviewed several families for her article,
“The Lost Children” (February, 18, 2012). 1
Ms. French reports that there are currently 1,900 individuals
on the Saskatoon waiting list for sedation dentistry and
three-fourths of these patients are under 10 years of age.
“More than half of the kids having dental surgery
self-identify as aboriginal, the Ministry of Health says. Babies,
toddlers and preschoolers who live in Saskatchewan’s three
northernmost health authorities are put under for teeth woes
at more than three times the provincial rate.”
So those of us in the United States ask why. Why are Indian
reservations in North America plagued by rampant caries?
And the answer has always been right in front of us. Poor oral
literacy, bad habits and lack of early intervention top the list
of several reasons.
When young, uneducated parents give their babies bottles
with juice, milk or other high sugar or carbohydrate drinks
and let them fall asleep, the parents are inviting rampant
caries. When parents don’t bring their children in for dental
visits until they are in severe pain, they are inviting disease
and infection. When parents don’t help their children choose
the right foods due to cost and availability, they are inviting
dental disease. And when no treatment is given due to lack
of available care and cost, the children lose.
In each example, the loser is the child. It’s not their fault,
but they are the ultimate victim. The solution seems rather
simple, but seems so difficult to achieve. If the current
generation of parents could be educated into helping their
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JA NUA RY/F E B R UA RY 2018 | P EN N S YLVA N IA D EN TA L J O U R N A L